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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26033059">(i wish i was) Enough for You</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeLovedYou/pseuds/HeLovedYou'>HeLovedYou</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>CapIM TRB 2020 [10]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Marvel</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>5+1 Things, Angst, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, M/M, Misunderstandings, Unhappy Ending, Unreliable Narrator</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 07:48:05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,054</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26033059</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeLovedYou/pseuds/HeLovedYou</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Five "firsts" of Steve and Tony's relationship + one "last"</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Steve Rogers/Tony Stark</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>CapIM TRB 2020 [10]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1858039</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>2020 Cap/Iron Man Tiny Reverse Bang</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>(i wish i was) Enough for You</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">


        <li>
            Inspired by

            <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25286008">The Sweet Life...</a> by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginestevetony/pseuds/imaginestevetony">imaginestevetony</a>.
        </li>

    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Moodboard that inspired this was very interesting, don't forget to check it out.<br/>Big thank you to <a href="https://www.archiveofourown.org/users/Anjaa/pseuds/Anjaa">Anjaa</a> and <a href="https://www.archiveofourown.org/users/ralsbecket/pseuds/ralsbecket">ralsbecket</a> for beta!<br/>There is a, quite frankly, horrible amount of symbolism in this for something so short. Read into everything, you're probably right</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>1.</strong>
</p><p>The first time Tony Stark sees Steve Rogers is at a party he doesn’t want to be at, with people he wishes he didn’t know. Tony is more than a little tipsy and lonelier than he’d ever admit, so he stumbles up to Mr. Handsome and grins salaciously at him, trailing fingers down his broad chest.</p><p> </p><p>Oddly enough, it’s the start of something beautiful.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>2.</strong>
</p><p>The first time Steve stays over is only a few weeks after that first night, when he had accepted Tony’s number before escorting his very drunk self to a cab. Steve had texted the next morning to make sure he got home okay, and Tony had been strangely charmed. They’ve met several times since, and their date last night ended with them stumbling through Tony’s apartment and into his bed.  </p><p>In the morning, Tony squints up at his rumpled boyfriend, noting the plate being held out to him. The face made from scrambled eggs and bacon smiles up at him, makes something backflip in his stomach. Tony scrapes the plate clean, ignoring for once the way the grease coats his mouth and the salt dries his throat.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>3.</strong>
</p><p>The first time Steve meets Howard and Maria Stark, Howard spends the entire evening with a curled lip. Maria isn’t much better – all cold smiles and colder words. Tony wants to cry. Steve smiles at him at the end of the night and acts like Howard’s classism didn’t piss him off endlessly, didn’t make him the littlest bit insecure.</p><p>“It’ll go better next time,.” he tells Tony, because that’s how Steve is.</p><p>(It doesn’t go better next time. Next time, Howard pulls Tony aside and gives him an ultimatum: Stop dragging the Stark name through the dirt or be cut off from all Stark resources. It’s not a choice.)</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>4.</strong>
</p><p>The first time Tony thinks of marriage is at a Brooklyn Academy of Art exhibition. The lights are low, and they’re sitting in the corner next to some pretentious asshole’s “modern art” that’s just a blank canvas next to a camera and a lump of wet clay. Steve had offered to stay and help clean up, so Tony had stayed, too. After the floor was swept and the rest of the building had been locked up, they had sat down together in the corner. They talk quietly and laugh often, and Steve complains of the pains in his feet from standing all day.</p><p>Tony thinks of offering him a massage, then pauses, startled at the domesticity of it. But he realises he wants that – with Steve. He wants the sleepy mornings, and buying quirky shit for their house, and to tease Steve over his weird obsession with polo. Even the late nights and sharp words that neither of them really mean – for Steve, it would be worth it.</p><p>He settles back to consider this newfound revelation, and when they finally traipse through the door of their dingy apartment, Tony fills a basin with soapy water and coaxes Steve into relaxing after shedding his socks and shoes.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>5.</strong>
</p><p>Their first holiday together is a year after their wedding. They rent a mobile home, and for a week they live in isolated bliss – Tony free of the Stark name and both able to forget the mounting debt that’s on the verge of suffocating them.</p><p>(Steve’s mom’s medical bills, funeral costs, college fees and now all that on top of the debt Tony’s acquired in his endeavour to pull them out of their current situation. Arc Inc. has potential; he knows it and he’s pretty sure the dozens of investors who’ve turned him down know it, too. A shame Howard can afford so many bribes.)</p><p>Tony looks over at Steve and his heart aches at how much younger Steve looks as he stares at the yachts on the sea. It doesn’t escape Tony’s notice that Steve works more than he can keep up with and that he carries guilt he has no business carrying. No matter how upset Tony had been that last night with Howard, it's not Steve's job to fix it. Tony wishes he could just get that through his head. </p><p>He pushes himself up from the edge of the mobile house and joins Steve on the sand, resting his head on Steve’s shoulder as they gaze out at the setting sun.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>+1</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Tony</em>
</p><p> </p><p>The last time they see each other is outside the courthouse, after their divorce papers have been finalised. Tony can’t help but to stare as Steve climbs into the car and drives away, not bothering to look back once.  </p><p>Who knew all those years ago that Steve was playing the long game, waiting until Tony made his million before breaking things off? And in the end, Tony had <em>Howard</em> to thank for it all. For stepping in at the last minute, right before Tony went bankrupt, to pull his starter company out of the dirt. For funneling money into Arc Inc. when no one else would, leading Tony to that million. For helping to reveal Steve Rogers for the gold-digging bastard he had always been.</p><p>Tony should have known – all good things come to an end, and in the end, Steve Rogers was just someone else he wished he hadn’t known.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Steve</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Steve doesn’t turn around, doesn’t glance in the rear-view mirror – he just drives. Whatever his regrets may be – going behind Tony’s back to his father of all people for help, ending it the way they had, letting Tony think he was just another mercenary prick after his money – he was still glad. Everything the past few years had brought – his mother’s death, the money problems, majority of which were his own, and most recently Bucky-</p><p>His grip tightens on the wheel.  </p><p>Nothing the past few years had brought was Tony's fault. It wasn't fair that he was paying the price for it.</p><p>He takes a breath.</p><p>Worth it. Tony is still worth it.  </p><p>Worth being dragged through the court system, worth being called every name by every tabloid in this country and then some, worth whatever fate awaits him because he hadn’t dared to ask Howard to cover his own debts.</p><p>Whatever. He’s sure Brooklyn has some cosy alleyways.</p><p>His own derisive laugh fills the car and he allows himself the tears burning his eyes. </p>
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